[arg_discuss] IF is not dead

[John Evans]

Yep, that's good stuff. Basic stuff, the kind of thing I suspect a lot of game
designers know instinctively, but definitely good. I remember hearing
someone talk about this...I don't know who, but the basic idea of game
design is focusing on *what the player does*. It's kind of a good thing to
keep in mind at E3 and such places.

"Look at our game demo! We can have 3 million polygons on screen
running at 30 fps with wide open areas..."
"Yeah, but what does the PLAYER DO?"
"..."

I can definitely see how that idea of "training the player" can work well
in ARGs. Let them know what to expect...that will cut down on the
"What do I do with this puzzle?" time and get to more of a "How do I
apply my knowledge to this puzzle?" time...(I think the part where you
have no idea what to do is kind of the most frustrating, but then, a lot
of puzzles seem to be nothing BUT that...i.e. once you figure out what
to do, the actual calculation is simple...of course, my opinion on the
relative frustration level is just that, my opinion.)

I do recall that Emily Short is kind of a famous name in the interactive
fiction community.

--John Evans